The series of the tire is a percentage of the width. A 205/40 tire has a thinner sidewall than a 215/40 tire.

That said, I don't believe that a 17" wheel will provide better handling than a 16" tire. The slightly thinner sidewall afforded by running a 215/40 tire as opposed to 215/45 is not much. 10.75 mm to be exact. The stiffer sidewall is offset for the most part by the higher unsprung weight of the larger-diameter wheel and tire. Weight does not only affect the acceleration.

Basically you will have slightly better initial turn-in with the 40-series tire but that's about it. Plus you have to spend more money to get the weight the same as a comparable 16" tire. Aesthetics are a personal choice, and I'm partial to 16" wheels as opposed to 17".

I think the benefits of lighter weight and lower cost outweigh any perceived aesthetic benefit of the 17" wheels, especially since there is no real performance benefit.

 

I was actually looking at getting a set of SSR Competitions this summer.

Now these rims are only 12.5 lbs each for a 17", and since it is a 40 series tire, there is less rubber, so I don't see how there is going to be a big performance difference vs a 16. I realize the majority of the weight is further from the center of the wheel, but what does that 1" difference really do? 0.5 horsepower loss? Wow. Plus if you want to upgrade your brakes to say a Brembo, AEM, or a Wilwood brake kit, you can't use a 16", it's too small. At least according to their respective web sites.

Anyway, I am still stuck a little on appearance. Can someone post pics of their ride with 16's? I haven't seen too many and I'd like to see how they look.

Also, if you get a 16 with 40 series, the ride will probably be just as harsh and your speedometer will be off because you are no longer keeping the overall diameter of your wheel the same as stock. Makes no sense to do so.

-Diabolik

 

https://www.honda-acura.net/forums/s...threadid=35818

Good example of why 16's can work.

Shingo

 

Edit - link didnt work but now it does... Heres a pic of 16's on a teg...

 

16's aren't as bad as 15's, but look at the 2nd pic, look at all the space on the sides of the rims.

They still look a little small.

 

The space is there because that car is lowered quite a bit, far more than 2". He's got the tires tucked under the fender (at least that's how it appears).

-Diabolik

 

The stock brakes with good pads are more than fine for everything except serious road racing use. Any sort of big brake kit is overkill and won't stop you any faster with the amount of traction provided by street tires.

The Wilwood kit fits under 16" SSR Competitions which you are into. I hate to reference SCC but their project EG Civic has both 16" Competitions and the Wilwood brake kit.



Look at the tire size, you can see that it's 205/45-16.

Fastbrakes sells a kit using 11" rotors and a Wilwood 4-piston caliper which fits under most 15" wheels.

No matter how light any given wheel is, the 16" version is going to be lighter than the 17" version. But whatever, while I feel that 16" are the quasi-ideal size, 17" wheels aren't going to make your car blow up and spray itself in a million pieces all over the road.

 

Those are nice rims ^^

The teg doesnt have the tires tucking but its close I know because its my car.

And I did know a guy who put 17's on and they blew up his car

 

Ah, so it does. I thought for sure it didn't but here we are.

Yeah, and the 16" SSR is far less than the 17 in price. I am also not going for flash, if I was I wouldn't be spending all that money on the SSR's.

I will have to think about 16's. From what I have seen so far, they look pretty good.

-Diabolik